Monday, June 22, 2009

State Legislature's Current 09/10 Budget Proposal for Higher Ed

Josh Franco of Students for California's Future just sent this notice out regarding the latest budget proposal from the State Legislature.


Hi all,

The Budget Conference Committee has released a summary of its action: http://www.assembly.ca.gov/acs/Committee/C4/Reports/June162009_Conference_Report.doc.

This report crystallizes the Legislature's perspective on the budget. The proposal is expected to be voted on in the Assembly and Senate this upcoming week.

Action Requests: 1) Please read at the very least how it affects higher education and education (see below), 2) forward this email to your respective groups/organizations' email list and 3) take whatever action you believe necessary to express your individual and group opinion on this proposal (Our "Who Represents My Campus?" tool is available: http://tinyurl.com/whoreps).

Your awareness of and attention to this critical issue is highly valued and much appreciated.

Higher Education
  • Includes $2 billion in cuts to UC and CSU, which is the same level as proposed by the Governor. However, this proposal treats the UC and CSU equally and retains academic preparation programs.
  • Achieves about $700 million in savings from Community colleges, but offsets the reduction with an additional $130 million in federal funds and $80 million from restoring the fee increase to $26 per unit.
  • Provides the Community colleges Categorical Program "flexibility" by allowing funding from selected programs to be moved to better meet the needs of the districts.
  • Rejects the Governor's cuts to Cal Grants, but does shift $32 million of General Fund costs to the student aid fund.
  • Accepts Cal Grant programmatic reductions, beginning in 2010-11, by freezing income eligibility for Cal Grant A recipients and reducing the maximum Cal Grant award for all Private College award recipients by 5 percent.